Lakers, Clippers have much different priorities leading up to NBA trade deadline

Clippers Blake Griffin tries to work to the basket around Pau Gasol in the NBA season opener between the Lakers and Clippers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, October 29, 2013.
(Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze)

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni, left, and Clippers coach Doc Rivers greet each other at the end of the game in the NBA season opener between the Lakers and Clippers at Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, October 29, 2013.
Lakers won 116-103.
(Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze)

It figures Dwight Howard would be back in town on the eve of the NBA trade deadline.

Who better, after all, than the Houston Rockets big man and one-time Lakers building block to provide a poignant reminder how volatile the business of framing the next great championship run can be?

And how one team’s misfortune can be another club’s blessing.

One minute the Lakers have Chris Paul in their grasp with the intention of pairing him with fellow All-Star Howard, the next they are 18-35 with players like Kendall Marshall and Jodie Meeks playing big minutes.

One second the Clippers are a pretty good young team with second-year forward Blake Griffin, the next they have Paul and Griffin alongside an entertaining supporting cast and the respected Doc Rivers calling the shots on the sideline and in the front office.

With Paul and Howard, the Lakers are a top-three team in the Western Conference right now. Instead, they are teeing off on the back-nine of their worst season in years, the only redeeming aspect a potential top-five pick in the strongest draft in a decade and enough salary cap space next summer to sign a max free agent.

With Paul, Griffin and Rivers, the Clippers have a legitimate chance to reach the Western Conference finals — if not beyond.

And the current state of affairs for both teams could not be more pronounced than at the trade deadline.

The Clippers are doing touch-ups.

The Lakers are still drawing up a blueprint.

For the Clippers, that means reportedly kicking the tires on a trade for New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert in which back-up point guard Darren Collison would head to New York.

Shumpert is an athletic 6-foot-6 swingman who would boost the Clippers’ wing defense and provide coverage for the injured J.J. Redick.

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The problem is, the Knicks reportedly want the Clippers — and anyone else — to also take point guard Raymond Felton.

And that could jeopardize any deal.

Fate, meanwhile, has never been as unforgiving to the Lakers as it has the last three seasons. But with darkness at full pitch, the flickering light of an impact draft pick and free agent offers hope.

Still, the aftereffects of the failed Paul/Howard plan still linger, which is why Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president Jim Buss intently weigh their options ahead of the trade deadline.

To achieve this, they need to move Pau Gasol and his hefty price tag and flip players like Steve Blake, Jordan Hill or Kaman for draft picks. They took a first step Wednesday night, dealing Blake to Golden State. If they can also deal Hill and Kaman, or move Gasol, they could dip under the threshold.

Gasol has been linked to the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Bobcats, but financial implications and the Lakers’ reluctance to give Gasol up without getting a high pick in return stand in the way of a deal.

The Lakers and Brooklyn Nets were closing ground Wednesday afternoon on a trade for Hill, presumably for a draft pick and/or young player. Phoenix, Dallas and Cleveland are also interested in Hill.

If the Lakers can find a home for Gasol and pick up additional picks for Hill or others, it would set them up nicely to add a couple of top prospects from a deep draft class and a premier free agent either this summer or next — although 2015 is looking more realistic.

With LeBron James the longest of longshots, Carmelo Anthony lacking the championship pedigree the Lakers seek and every other free agent this summer significantly flawed, it might make more sense to pass on this year’s group in anticipation of the 2015 class, which will include Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.

That might not sit well with Lakers fans thirsty for an immediate championship run. And it will mean Kobe Bryant spending his second-to-last season mentoring a young team rather than competing for another ring.

But in the grand scheme of things, it’s the best hope the Lakers have of assembling a championship-worthy team sooner rather than later.

There is one way the Lakers can expedite the process, and it involves Love, the former UCLA star.

Love’s L.A. roots have linked him to the Lakers almost from the day he was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the consensus is he will circle back this way as a free agent in 2015.

But that voyage will require incredible patience — and faith — by the Lakers and a willingness by the Timberwolves to let Love walk for nothing.

A combination of Lakers impatience and Timberwolves reluctance might pave the way for a trade, a possibility that’s been speculated about over the last few days.

If Love tells the Wolves he is leaving in 2015 for the Lakers, perhaps that motivates them to accept an offer of Gasol and the Lakers’ first-round pick for their 25-year-old All-Star.

Lest they lose him for no compensation after next season.

It’s a tantalizing thought, to be sure.

But the Timberwolves believe they are building a talented team around Love — one he will decide to stick with rather than flee for the Lakers — so the chances of them dealing him are slim.

For the Lakers, this deadline was never about getting better.

Immediately, anyway.

It’s all about getting under the tax threshold, accumulating draft picks and setting themselves up for the future.